Star Trek may be a 55-year old franchise, but that doesn’t mean it can’t learn new tricks. And on Star Trek Day, the franchise is going to move into an entirely new frontier. VeVe, a digital assets trading app, announced today that Star Trek is the latest franchise to be added to the platform. Starting Wednesday, September 8th at 8 am Pacific, digitally-minded fans will be able to purchase one of two scale models of the Enterprise-D or a Borg Cube.
Non-fungible Trek
Star Trek is jumping on the NFT bandwagon by releasing digital ships that you can purchase and then admire (notably, William Shatner himself beat Star Trek to the punch when he released digital collectible trading card NFTs last year). Trek joins an already impressive list of franchises that have assets available on VeVe, including DC Comics, Marvel, and Adventure Time to name a few.
Staring Wednesday at 8 am Pacific, you’ll be able to snatch up one of a limited number of Enterprise-D and Borg Cube 3D models that live within the VeVe app. Two editions of each can be purchased: a 1:1000 scale Borg Cube ($40 USD), a 1:1 scale Borg Cube ($110 USD), a 1:1000 scale Enterprise-D ($60 USD), and a 1:1 scale Enterprise-D ($130 USD).
Image of the Enterprise-D 3D model NFT available on VeVe
Image of the Borg Cube 3D model NFT available on VeVe
Bring the models into your world with AR
The models can be viewed using the VeVe app and can even be placed into your real-life environment using augmented reality (AR). I kind of want to purchase the 1:1 scale models just so I can go out onto a football field and place them there using AR. I mean… these things are huge!
Veve explained what this means on their Twitter.
The Borg Cube is apparently 3,000+ meters on each side and 27 cubic kilometers in volume 😳
— VeVe | Digital Collectibles (@veve_official) September 7, 2021
And this tease on Instagram from VeVe CEO David Yu should give you a sense of the augmented reality possibilities.
View this post on Instagram
How does this NFT thing work anyways?
Captain Picard was right when he said “The economics of the future are somewhat different” in Star Trek: First Contact. An NFT (short for non-fungible token) is essentially a digital file that is unique. It can be copied, but that copy will be illegitimate without the proof to back up that it’s the real deal. Blockchain technology — yeah, the thing behind bitcoin — underpins all NFT apps. The blockchain works by acting as a sort of digital ledger. Let’s say you would like to purchase a 3D model of the Enterprise-D using VeVe. As soon as you purchase it, that transaction is written onto the blockchain ledger, a ledger that’s impossible to fake. The item now holds value because it’s unique.
In theory, the value of your Enterprise should only increase, since there are only a limited number of them available. That means people will be looking to buy these up and sell them on the market for well over the initial asking price. If you do want one of these models, you may have to act fast.
An NFT can be any type of digital thing, but the VeVe app trades specifically in 3D models. This brings an extra element of fun to owning one of these NFTs as you can view and manipulate your purchase right in the app, even with AR. All of the functionality is right there within the VeVe app.
VeVe isn’t the only NFT platform, but it’s the only place you’ll be able to buy the new Star Trek models. VeVe is actually a pretty good place to start, too, if you’re a beginner. Not only can you purchase, view, and even sell your NFT right within the app, transactions are in USD. Other NFT apps require purchases using cryptocurrencies, which, at the moment, come with some pretty steep fees.
More information about the VeVe Star Trek digital collectibles can be found on their Medium post about the release. And you can get the app and start buying and trading VeVe Star Trek and other NFTs at veve.me.
Find more Star Trek merchandise news at TrekMovie.com.
This makes no sense whatsoever. Why would anyone buy a model they can’t keep or even touch? I don’t get it.
NFTs is the new Pet rock. They are basically digital collector cards. It’s very lucrative right now.
You can literally project these into the sky in AR mode on your phones. Elaborate display cases to come. I gave a 1-1 scale Delorian where you can open the doors, turn lights on, rotate and literally get inside the vehicle. Amazing, and this is only the start
Why would you collect a physical model that you don’t play with? People like things for different reasons.
Oh god no.
I am very excited for when someone rips the models from the app and posts them to Thingiverse.
A) as someone who has been making and downloading 3D models of exceptional accuracy and quality for years now, what the actual fuck? Lol
B) that Borg Cube model is horribly inaccurate
I’d be for this if only the model could be used in Blender / Lightwave / Windows Mixed Reality / hell even Windows 3D Builder, PowerPoint, and so on and so forth. But no, it’s just in t
I consider myself an amateur artist and I’ve played around with NFT and honestly I don’t get it either. I sold one NFT (for not much) and frankly have redicted my focus back to my local non-profit gallery. Don’t understand how kids are making thousands of dollars selling these NFT things.
Keep it up. You could be a millionaire by the end of the year.
If you don’t get digital collectibles, you don’t understand the psychology of collecting, which is odd to me, because Trekkies of all people should be able to — if not understand the nature of it– understand that there are people who like unusual things that don’t necessarily appeal to them.
Hope as many people here are as offended by the ridiculousness and vapidity (is that a word?) of NFTs. It is a scam by the very definition and purveyors of NFTs have to work REALLY hard to convince you of real life parallels of its scarcity.
If you hand me a physical copy of Action Comics #1 from 1938…. that is a REAL tangible item with ACTUAL historic scarcity.
Now try to sell me a PDF scan of it.
A copy of a jpeg that is infinitely the same as anyone else’s copy is NOT rare. And make all the arguments you want… they are invalid.
I will not dispute that a lot of people made insane amounts of real cash this year on NFTs… but the existence of something doesn’t make it ethical or justifiable.
It’s patently offensive and a huge waste of the blockchain.
“But that’s just me”
I don’t know. I’ve been buying ebooks for years. Digital is better.
It reminds me of the Emperor’s new clothes.
They better should do a project like “Stage 9” where you got the entire Enterprise D interior and exterior. It was the most mind blowing star trek 3D project ever! Then.. CBS shut it down.
Sorry, but if there’s no link there to the place where it’s actually on a blockchain, it’s not an NFT but just a hype-driven “vaporware” thing, i.e. something that doesn’t even exist.
Now, if “VeVe” can give me a link to the Smart Contract that this is or will be actually minted in, I accept that it’s (going to be) a real NFT.
What is the difference between the scales? Is there much greater detail in the 1:1?
Doesn’t matter if you think it’s stupid, there’s millions of collectors who think otherwise, and they’re paying good money. AR is the future. I wouldn’t be so quick to label this as a flash in the pan because it’s something you may not want to understand. These are limited works that mean a great deal to collectors, and it’s not only Fandom, it’s art and tech lovers. Some of the works are intricate with amazing detail while others are simple, it’s either you like it or not, and if you’re not into it- that’s fine, but when AR replaces everything media related don’t act like you didn’t know it was going to happen – you saw it here first at the genesis and you simply chose to look away.
I hardly think this would interest millions of collectors. At this point for me this is either a fascinating new technology and harbinger of things to come, or it’s just the latest new thing that can only interest the early adopter types and doomed to fizzle-out. AR looks like Pokemon-Go to me… So I’m not ready to say this is the genesis of anything. This being said, I am not knowledgeable about this and can only go with the impression it leaves me with, which is this looks potentially cool but let’s wait and see how it will develop before we clamor it as the life changing thing too many are making it out to be.
It’s not a question of not understanding something. This is very easily comprehensible. It’s literally is not a limited work. It’s completely reproducible. There is nothing rare about it. The “rare” part of it is a manufactured illusion to drive a purpose for the ETH blockchain.
It’s assigning “rights” to imaginary products. Looking down on the hilarious waste of crypto gas on valueless NFTs is not looking down on some of the works of art and technology created or being sold themselves.
It’s a criticism of the get-rich-quick scheme behind it. And how it attempts to take advantage of peoples obsession with FOMO and collecting. And how most NFT purchases were made by people playing with “house money” and not real tangible cash they had to put behind a purchase.
“When AR replaces everything media related?” What? Augmented reality is not trying to trick and scam people into thinking a digital “token” is going to be worth 1000x it’s value in the future by clicking the duplicate button in your file browser.
https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/15/22328203/nft-cryptoart-ethereum-blockchain-climate-change
“Individual pieces of crypto art, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), are at least partially responsible for the millions of tons of planet-heating carbon dioxide emissions generated by the cryptocurrencies used to buy and sell them. Some artists — including those who have already benefited from the craze — think it’s a problem that can be easily solved. Others think the proposed solutions are a pipe dream.”
I don’t understand, are these the used CGI models from voy and ent?
Highly doubtful. Probably better to think of these CGI models as being similar to a statue you can buy at a collectible store…. except it is 100% digital… and potentially it is stored remotely meaning your ownership and access to it lasts only as long as the remote service is active.